Poll: Fake or Real?

  1. #1

    The Scole Experiment

    So I was watching some series on discovery science the other day and one thing kind of baffled me.

    The Scole Experiment. It was actually just a séance, but under scientific conditions and lots of rules so the medium couldn't do any tricks.

    If you don't know anything about it, I found this website with more info about it (haven't found any pages on wikipedia, strangely):
    http://www.thescoleexperiment.com/
    The S-Files category basically shows you everything about it.

    Now, a sceptical already showed that it's really easy to fake a séance. As it has always been a trick, actually.
    Still, I'm not sure whether it's fake or not.

    The statement I'm making now will come over quite stupid to some people, but: Why would scientists joke on us? Of course, the medium could have done some tricks. But under the conditions that the scole experiment has been performed, this would be very hard to do if not impossible.

    What do you think about this? Fake or real?

    EDIT: It seems a lot of people didn't understand the website so I'll add a bit of info.

    So it's a normal séance, just with scientists and under strict rules.
    For example, a table where nothing could be done below it to prevent people doing tricks under it.
    Glowstick armbands so others can see what the others are doing, so no one sneaking out to do tricks.
    The basement was locked internally, so they were sure no one could get in from the outside.

    Then the results were like a normal séance. They started to see lights, voices and objects falling from the sky.

    But now the interesting bit:


    What's so special about this?

    You should recognize a woman's face in it. I know you'll say now: "I recognized it because you told me". That might be true, but think beyond that. How did the pictures get there?

    The roll where they found these pictures on was in a locked box so no one could play with it (and the roll was new as well).
    They claim that these pictures are from the spirit world, a ghost left them behind there.

    The scientists that did this experiment claim that this is solid proof to proof the existence of ghosts. What do you think?
    Last edited by Viperdream; 2011-11-11 at 12:13 AM. Reason: Adding Info

  2. #2
    Stood in the Fire Runeforged's Avatar
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    I'm not entirely sure about what the website is talking about, pictures taken in total darkness?
    "When I was 5 years old, my mother told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, I told them they didn't understand life." - John Lennon

  3. #3
    Banned This name sucks's Avatar
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    Yeah, I have no idea what its talking about either.

  4. #4
    I am rather surprised to find that there's not even a Wikipedia page for the experiment. I do remember hearing a Skeptoid podcast on the subject. You can find it at Skeptoid.com if you're interested. As you may be able to guess from the site name, it's an analysis of the Scole Experiment by a skeptic.

    At the very least, I think it can be said that the Scole Report does not prove the existence of ghosts. I do not believe in ghosts.

    EDIT - Found it: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4179
    Last edited by Pert; 2011-11-10 at 11:41 PM.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Pert View Post
    I am rather surprised to find that there's not even a Wikipedia page for the experiment. I do remember hearing a Skeptoid podcast on the subject. You can find it at Skeptoid.com if you're interested. As you may be able to guess from the site name, it's an analysis of the Scole Experiment by a skeptic.

    At the very least, I think it can be said that the Scole Report does not prove the existence of ghosts. I do not believe in ghosts

    EDIT - Found it: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4179
    I didn't find a lot of information about it, I'll add it next to the other link

  6. #6

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Viperdream View Post
    But now the interesting bit:


    What's so special about this?

    You should recognize a woman's face in it. I know you'll say now: "I recognized it because you told me". That might be true, but think beyond that. How did the pictures get there?

    The roll where they found these pictures on was in a locked box so no one could play with it (and the roll was new as well).
    They claim that these pictures are from the spirit world, a ghost left them behind there.
    The box was provided by the mediums. Heck, the venue was provided by the mediums as well.

    Here's a picture of a face as seen in the ultrasound of a man's testicle.



    Weird? Yes. Proof of ghosts? No.

  8. #8
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Pert View Post

    Here's a picture of a face as seen in the ultrasound of a man's testicle.



    Weird? Yes. Proof of ghosts? No.
    Or its the worlds worst haunting.

  9. #9
    To elaborate on why it was a hoax, the locked boxed was found to be easily opened in the dark, allowing the film to be easily switched. When third party containers were provided to the mediums, no such pictures appeared on the film. There was no real inspection of the house nor was there any real scientific approach, despite what they claim.

  10. #10
    Field Marshal
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    I can't see the women's face...

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Viperdream View Post
    So it's a normal séance, just with scientists and under strict rules.
    Here's the thing. Just because someone said they did something under strict scientific conditions, doesn't mean they aren't lying.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Viperdream View Post

    Then the results were like a normal séance. They started to see lights, voices and objects falling from the sky.
    Dont you mean... a paranormal séance...?

    Yea... i can say its just one big pile of hoax

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Runeforged View Post
    I'm not entirely sure about what the website is talking about, pictures taken in total darkness?
    they didn't actually take the pics.... thyey put a roll of film that wasn't in a camera into a box that they locked so no one could say that they messed with the film in any way and these are the images that showed up on the film after thier seance was done....

  14. #14
    well after looking it up it seems there was a lot of failure to follow scientific procedure... and seances are kind of the poster child of hoaxes, so im gonna have to say no its not good evidence.

  15. #15
    High Overlord Nino's Avatar
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    even after you told me i should see a womans face in the pic i dont shit but white blots

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Pert View Post
    The box was provided by the mediums. Heck, the venue was provided by the mediums as well.

    Here's a picture of a face as seen in the ultrasound of a man's testicle.


    Weird? Yes. Proof of ghosts? No.
    I found this funnier than I should have

  17. #17

    The Scole Experiment - response from the book authors

    Hello,

    200 years or so ago, when a (dead) duck-billed platypus was brought back from Australia for the first time, British scientists' initial belief was that the attributes were 'a hoax'. In 1799, the 'Naturalist's Miscellany', stated it was 'impossible not to entertain doubts as to its genuine nature', and Robert Knox believed it might have been produced 'by some Asian taxidermist'. 100 or so years ago, scientists in London were loudly stating that human flight was 'impossible' by all the known and normal laws of science and they therefore did not believe that any attempt to get off the ground would be successful. In other words, the very idea of 'heavier than air' flight was 'paranormal', so it must be 'impossible'. Unfortunately for their scientific belief system, the Wright brothers were already in the air at the time these scientists were preaching their faith in the 'impossibility' of heavier than air flight. These are by no means the only two examples of the scientific belief or faith system being shown up for what it is. There is a repeating pattern in science that, whilst the huge majority are stating that something is impossible and outside the bounds of normal known science, a small minority are getting on with proving that the 'paranormal' - i.e. not currently accepted by the majority as normal - explanation is actually real. Emeritus Professor Arthur Ellison, an electrical engineer who wrote the Foreword to our book (as one of the investigators who conducted The Scole Experiment), states that it is not actually scientific to say that something is "impossible" since a true scientist will say that nothing is impossible, we must look at the evidence as it presents itself and make conclusions from the tests we carry out. In other words, to state that something is impossible in advance of testing the evidence is equal to a declaration of belief or faith - it is a prejudiced opinion; it is certainly and most definitely not, real 'science'. Given that declarations of 'faith' and 'belief' in the established 'scientific' community have so often been shown to be wrong, please give due consideration to the comments below in response to the posts about this subject on these pages...

    'The Scole Experiment' was 1000 hours of investigation during 500 hundred individual experiments in many different countries with a wide range of highly qualified scientific and philosophical investigators as well as lots of ordinary people taking part. Watching the 'Afterlife Investigations' video documentary is a start to finding out what really happened but can you really make a proper judgement until you've looked at all the evidence? Those people who've just said 'rubbish' on these posts might not have seen our 300-page book about the whole five years of investigations, 'The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life After Death', or the 'The Scole Report', a scholarly 300-page document written by the scientists who attended for a period of two years and conducted lots of serious experiments. The critics on these posts and elsewhere may also not have seen the video witness testimony from Emeritus Professor Ivor Grattan-Guinness, who I interviewed at The Scole Debate in London and who confirms the paranormal nature of what happened to him at Scole as well as giving his thoughts on a new theory that might explain the happenings: basically the theory might involve multiple big bangs and co-existing multiple universes, each with a different physics underlying them. Reading 'Skeptoid' posts or similar isn't really enough either. A question you may like to ask is 'were the skeptics who give a few throw-away one-liner comments actually there?' If not, wouldn't it make more sense to rely on the testimony of those who actually were there and conducted the experiments? For those who want to actually do some research before they make a comment on something as seriously interesting and important as The Scole Experiment, here are some links...

    Recommended reading, including The Scole Experiment and The Scole Report: thescoleexperiment.com/store.htm

    Research videos, including Prof Grattan-Guinness: youtube.com/resolutionsresearch

    The Scole Experiment websites: thescoleexperiment.com and facebook.com/TheScoleExperiment

    Of course, having said all of the above, those of us seriously investigating these phenomena have to take note of the concerns and criticisms of others. For this reason, a new series of investigations, called 'The Norfolk Experiment', has started, which we will be attending and which will take place in full light conditions. 'Paranormal', that is, 'unexplained by current "normal" science' results are already being achieved in full light conditions. One important thing to mention is that the 'communicators' say that they are not all the personalities of people who lived on the Earth, died, and found themselves in another place; some of them are from 'other dimensions of existence' so have never had a life on Earth. This may be explained by something like the 'multiple universes/dimensions' theory suggested above. We hope to discover and report much more about this particular aspect of the investigations as the new experiments progress. As before, the events and results will be recorded in our new book: 'The Norfolk Experiment: Beyond The Scole Experiment'. Meanwhile, this new investigation can be followed on a Facebook Page: facebook.com/BeyondTheScoleExperiment.

    We're providing all this info and the links in case some of the people reading these posts are seriously interested in finding out what actually happened in The Scole Experiment and what is really happening now in The Norfolk Experiment. Just watching the video documentary might not really be enough to make an informed judgement. Hope this helps those who are interested in further research in this interesting and important field of investigation.

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